You and Me, Always
by LittleMissYorkie
Summary: PAUSED Formally It's Always Been You. Thea and her friends, have just been thrown 73 years into the past. It was hard enough just getting used to her own society, now Thea has to adjust to a totally new one. On top of that, she's now a private in Easy Company, of the 506th PIR and must literally fight to survive. Rewritten as a first person POV. Soon to be AU. English.
1. You Knock Me Off My Feet

**You and Me Always.**

 _Alright, so I just wanted to let you all know that I'm tweaking the chapters a little. I've gone and read it all again (I know) and I just wanted to change some things. I hope you'll still enjoy reading it._ _ **Please also note before reading, the surname is pronounced D'LACEY, it's a variation of spelling. The forename is my own take on the alternate spelling of the Greek goddess' name Eileithyia alternatively spelt Ilithyia, and pronounced as**_ _ **IH L IH TH Y AH.**_ _ **Sorry for the lecture!**_

This is also the rewritten version. I personally like it a lot better now that the main narrators are Thea and Malarkey. The chapters are more or less the same, there are bits in it that have only had the tense changed, and there are some that have been totally revamped. Some chapters have been added in, and what was chapter two is now chapter three.

I hope you enjoy this version better than the old one! Please R&R!

 **You Knock Me Off My Feet**

My name is Thea D'Lasey; Aelythiea Aurora Berengaria D'Lasey, if we're being exact. I am 5 feet 3 inches tall. I come from a family of Irish immigrants. I was born, in my parent's bedroom on the 6th of June and I lived in the same cottage for all but two years of my life. It sat on the coast of Cornwall, England, and my bedroom over looked the sea. Every night, I went to sleep by the sound of the rolling waves, and every morning I'd wake up and gather the heather that grew around the house for my mum.

I had a brother, three years younger than me. My dad owned an Irish pub in the centre of Newquay and my mum would often take my brother and I in to see him. Aside from his wife and us two kids, the pub was his pride and joy, and when I came back from college, at 18, I worked behind the bar. I knew all the regulars there.

My mum, from the moment I could bang on things, taught me every day, how to play the piano. I practised and practised, sometimes with her, mostly without her, until I could play by ear anything that I wanted or heard. I would play while she read. We both loved that. My favourite songs to play were La Cygne, Clair de Lune, The Heart Asks Pleasure First from the movie The Piano, the Peer Gynt suit – In the Hall of the Mountain King by Grieg, several songs from the Studio Ghibli movie collection and (strangely) Perpetuum Mobile by the Penguin Café Orchestra.

I loved to sing, I did Irish dancing, ballroom and ballet; for my eighteenth birthday my dad paid for me and my mum to go and see The Nutcracker ballet in London. It was my favourite.

My hair was long and a dark chocolate colour that sometimes grew lighter in colour, and often-times I would wear it up in a ponytail, or a bun, and sometimes I would do it like Veronica Lake or in victory rolls. My granddad used to love the old films and would tell me I looked like Veronica Lake. I didn't mind; she was my idol. He used to say my eyes were his favourite thing about me and would call me Bambi because I had the doe eyed look, next to my smile. They were shaped like rounded almonds and the lavender colour of my iris' surprised everyone when they noticed. Apparently it was a gene mutation that caused that and my high metabolism.

My height would often trick people into thinking that I wasn't very tough or couldn't look after my own, but they'd be surprised to learn that I was, in fact, very good at martial arts and very strong. The high kicks I was especially good at, thanks to the fact that I did ballet and I could hold one of my legs in the air for a while before it got tired, which was just long enough for them to realise that they shouldn't have doubted me.

I only had two friends, Danielle 'Elle' or 'Ellie' Toya and Taylor Roebuck. I had met them a week after I had come back from college. They had come over from America, to visit the place that their grandfathers had been posted to during the war. The two girls had come alone and were totally lost. It took a day before we became almost inseparable. When they had to go back, Taylor would go to Elle's and they would call me on a Friday night and we spoke for as long as we could. They made frequent visits to come and see me and would stay at our house, and I'd go and see them too, staying at Elle's house.

Elle was the oldest out of the three of us, being 21 when we first met. She was also the tallest, at 5'6. She was slim, with a warm, summer tan, from living out in California, by the sea and had bright blonde hair that she kept in a bob and later, a pixie cut. Elle was quite motherly, sort of what you'd expect from the eldest, and had an elegant air around her, when she walked or spoke. Always tried to be the mature one, but usually ended up getting in on our shenanigans. She was the voice of reason, when Taylor and I began to squabble like two brothers.

Taylor was a bit of a tomboy. While she was just a month older than I was, she loved football (the British kind), played hockey and basketball, while I was more arty. She was taller than me, at 5'5 but wasn't as fast or as agile as I was, since I was smaller and danced I was more fleet footed.

She always cracked the rudest and funniest jokes, and had the three of us laughing till 3 in the morning.

Her hair was a bit of a contrast to her personality. You'd expect her to have short hair, but it was actually quite long and she wore it down, in ruffled waves, unless she was playing sports.

I was happy. I was loved. That was my life and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I was 20 years old when I died.

"Thee, if you keep zoning out like that, you're going to end up getting hurt." Elle's motherly voice called me out of my day dreaming state. I looked behind me in a daze, not really having heard what she had said, as I carried on walking.

"What did you- oof!" I yelped, half way through my question, as I collided with something far taller than myself and caused the two of us to fall down.

The person that I'd bumped into, was barely able to stop themselves from falling completely on top of me; their knee landed between my legs, hands at either side of my hips and their mouth just millimetres away from mine. I could already feel an incredible blush on my cheeks, and it only seemed to grow hotter when I saw who it was I'd bowled over.

I wasn't very tall to start out with, but Donald G Malarkey towered over me. He was around 6 feet tall and I barely made it to 5'3.

His warm brown eyes stared into my lavender ones for a little while, embarrassed and surprised. My long, chocolate hair had been up in a loose, high ponytail, and as I'd fallen, a shorter strand from my fringe, had fallen out and had settled itself across my nose. Malarkey's warm breath tickled my lips as he looked at me and my stomach began twisting into nervous knots.

I'd not really spoken to him much; it was only when I was with Danielle and Taylor that I'd actually been in close proximity to him, unless I passed Skip and his friend Alexander 'Penk' Penkala on my way to and from the mess hall and I stopped to say hello how are you. Even then we didn't really talk. He just kept quiet, like a shy little boy, looking everywhere but at me. Not that I made anything better, since I did the exact same.

"Well would you look at that," an amused voice came from behind Malarkey, and Skip's torso and head came into view, "They're falling for each other already."

Malarkey quickly turned around and told his friend to shut up, a blush spreading across his face the whole time.

"You're hilarious." I dead-panned, while Malarkey rose to his feet. The red head dusted himself off, before he held out his hand to me. I took it and allowed him to help me up, my stomach once again forming knots at the physical contact.

Like I had said before, I had seen him around, but not spoken. He did, however, seem like a nice guy. He was tall, cute and youthful, with brown eyes that looked like warm pools of melting chocolate and incredibly bright orange hair. I'd noticed he could be a little bit sarcastic, but I could be too, so I didn't mind.

"I told you to stop zoning out." Taylor smirked, crossing her arms over her chest, as she looked on. I replied to her smirking face, with a frown of disbelief.

"No you didn't, Elle said that."

"Yeah well, I thought it and it's always the thought that counts."

Elle rolled her eyes at the two of us, and came to stand by Skip.

"I'm sorry, by the way. I didn't mean to knock you over." I apologised sheepishly, tugging on my ear lobe, "I wasn't really paying attention."

Malarkey shyly smiled back, looking at me with a blush, as he rubbed the back of his neck, "It's alright, neither was I."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taylor and Elle sharing a knowing look. Our group talked for a little while, before Elle remembered that we were supposed to go and collect our new uniforms from the stores.

We watched the three of them walk away, before we turned to leave. Taylor began to tease me about Malarkey, but I didn't take the bait and rolled my eyes instead. It was at that moment, that I noticed something lying on the floor. I turned my head towards it and noticed that it was a garrison cap. Figuring that Malarkey must have dropped it when I knocked him over, I picked it up and told Elle I was going to return it to its owner.

"Alright, we'll grab your uniform and boots for you. Don't be late back."

Nodding my in acknowledgement, I set off in the direction that I'd last seen the handsome soldier head in.

Jogging in the general direction that I'd last seen them walk in, I looked around, hoping to catch them before they disappeared into their cabin, since I didn't know which one it was. It was no use. I'd had to have been looking around for 10 minutes and I'd not been able to find him. As I started back to the hut I shared with Elle and Taylor, deciding it was best to ask them where their hut was to go looking again after I'd changed, I heard some voices as a door opened a few huts away from where I was standing. Suddenly, the man himself walked out of the hut, hurriedly, closing the door as he began to make his way in the same direction as me.

"Hey, Malarkey!" I called out, as I started to jog after him. When he turned around, I saw that he wore an anxious look on his face, and I had been right in thinking that it was his garrison cap that I had found on the floor. He smiled when he saw me, the anxiety that was plastered all over his face seemed to wash off a little bit and he stopped walking.

"Hey Thea." he greeted, as I waved to him.

"I'm glad you walked out when you did, I've been looking all over for you." I beamed up to him. His smile turned into a look of mild surprise.

"Y-you have?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I found your cap on the floor. I thought you must have dropped it when we bumped into each other, so I came looking for you to give it back."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, as I handed his garrison cap back, visibly exhaling in what seemed like relief.

"Thanks, that's awful nice of you." I grinned at him and told him not to worry about it. I was just turning to leave when he quickly said my name to stop me.

"Wait Thea!" I turned back around and looked at the man curiously, waiting for him to continue. "I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Well... would you want to...uh" It was like having a conversation with someone in Morse code. "Would you like to get lunch today? I mean if you don't mind… I didn't mean like a, you know, like a date or anything... I meant, you know, sitting with us…"

"Malark, I get it." I laughed, patting his arm. His face lit up and he began to rub his temple.

"I'll meet you at the mess hall?"

"Sounds like a plan." I said, grinning as we parted ways.

Bumping into Malarkey that day seemed almost like a fated meeting. He was like my other half, a friendship soul mate. He and I were almost never apart, we ate together, ran Currahee together, smoked together, we went out drinking and shopping together when we had passes, and the two of us even waited for each other while one showered.

Taylor, Elle and I had all settled into separate groups; Taylor stuck with guys like Denver 'Bull' Randelman, Floyd Talbert and the men's men of the company, while Elle hung out with Skip, the Harvard man David Kenyon Webster and other learned persons. Sink was thinking about sending Elle off for OCS and over time, Taylor and I had been offered promotions, but we declined. We didn't want that responsibility. We still spent most of our free time together, still walked together on the night marches and when we did the assault course we'd do that together too, since we'd be able to help each other out.

One evening, before our night march, I was late getting a shower, since I'd not been able to clear the wooden wall the first try, Sobel had made me do it all over again. I'd heard from Elle and Taylor, when I went to get my toiletries from our cabin, that the Black Swan had also made Malark run Currahee again, because he was the last man up this time.

When I reached the shower block, I listened out to see if I could hear the showers going, but I couldn't hear anything, so I figured it was safe for me to go in. Oh how wrong I was.

As I walked in, it was all quite. Then I heard a low hum, and as I turned a corner, there stood my best friend, in the process of removing his clothing. I stopped in my tracks, as I watched his muscles in his shoulders and back flex when he took off his olive drab army vest.

In my awed state, I forgot that I was holding my shower things, and my bar of soap dropped and skidded across the floor. I inwardly cursed, as I tried to sneak over to retrieve it. Malarkey whipped his body around to see what the noise was, obviously not anticipating anyone else to be in there with him, let alone see me half bent over, picking up a bar of soap.

"Thea?" his sweet voice questioned, as I winced, embarrassed.

"Hello." I replied, standing up straight, with the wincing expression still on my face. My entire body felt like it was suddenly engulfed in flames when I saw his sculpted body, glistening with sweat. Oh shit.

"What are you doing in here?" he slowly asked me, turning around fully.

I gave him the same, 'you're really asking that' look that I gave to Frank Perconte, when he said something stupid. Which was a lot.

"Oh just having a meeting with the Drain Monster, what do you think I'm doing here, covered in mud?"

"I don't know, the way you were trying to sneak around, maybe you were hoping to peep on me. Pervert."

"Only in your wildest, most hopeless dreams."

Malark smiled his sweet smile at me, and shook his head.

"Alright very clever."

The two of us stood looking at each other, before we awkwardly remembered that he was undressing for the shower and I'd walked in.

"Oh uhm, I'll.. I didn't mean to ah... yeah." I awkwardly announced, pointing, with a blush, to the exit.

"You're going to leave?" he asked me, innocently.

"Well, yeah? I can't really stay while you shower."

"But don't you need to shower too?"

I paused. The man had a point.

"Well, yeah, but I'm not going to do it while you're here!"

"But then I'll have to wait to make sure no one comes in to get you."

"Get me?"

He pulled a face, "Look, why don't you go to the far end? I won't look, I promise."

"Are you sure?" I raised my eyebrows at him, but he just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure, now will you hurry up, we could have been in and out of the shower by now." He huffed, "Goddam pain in my ass."


	2. You're Such A Liar

**You're Such A Liar.**

* * *

"It's about time you got back, where the hell have you been?" Skip called as I walked through the hut door, freshly showered.

"In the shower."

"Where was the shower, Washington DC?"

"Quit bothering me, I just took a shower, can't you tell?" I rolled my eyes and started getting ready for that night's march.

"Were you having some 'private time'?" Luz nudged me as he walked by. I groaned, beginning to get annoyed.

"No, I was taking a shower."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"That it?"

"For the hundredth time, yes, I was just taking a shower!" I spoke louder so they could all hear me.

"You know, that name really does suit you; Bullshit." Skip smirked across from me.

"Look, the only reason it took so long, was because I bumped into Thea…"

"In the shower?!" Luz whirled around, eyes gleaming.

"Before you even say it, I was there first, she walked in on me."

"She get a good look?" Luz came over and put his arm around my shoulders

"I wasn't naked, George. Anyway, she went to the other end of the showers."

"Wait, wait, wait," Skip stood stock still, "You mean, she still got in the shower?"

"Yeah…"

"She was _naked_?!" Perconte almost swallowed his toothbrush.

"No, she showered with her clothes on." I replied sarcastically.

"You're kidding me!" Joe Toye rasped, stopping what he was doing too.

"Did _you_ get a good look?"

I sighed, "No George, I didn't."

"Not even a peek?" he suddenly looked like a disappointed father as I shook my head. " _You_ ," he paused "are a let-down."

"Gee, thanks Pa."

* * *

"You sure you didn't look?" Skip quietly asked me later, a few miles into that night's march.

"You really think I'd tell you if I did?" I mumbled an answer.

"Sure why not?"

I stared at him for a minute, before I shook my head and turned back to look ahead. From my point of view, I could see Thea walking in front of Taylor and Elle. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when she noticed I was looking her way and pulled a goofy face at me, before turning back to her conversation with Shifty. My heart skipped a beat and my face suddenly felt hot.

Just thinking about the way she walked, the way her hair swung in its ponytail when she walked, the way her lips curled up into a smile, it got my stomach turning. Not in a bad way; it was actually quite a nice feeling.

"Man you have it bad." Skip whispered as we marched in the dark, rainy night. I glanced sideways at him, not understanding what he meant.

"What are you talking about?"

"C'mon, you can't be that stupid." He hissed in my ear. "It's obvious that you like her."

"I don't know what you're talking about Skip."

"Bullshit you don't know what I'm talking about!" I glanced over to him. "You are such a liar."


	3. Whatever Helps You Sleep At Night

**Whatever Helps You Sleep At Night.**

 _Okay so, since I wrote this, I have decided that I actually don't like it much, so I wrote it again._

 _Hope you enjoy! Please R &R!_

* * *

A few months had passed since the night of the shower. In just a few weeks we'd begin our jump training. But did that stop Sobel from being the massive prick that he was? Did it _fuck_.

"Hey, Malark?" I panted, sweat dripping down my back. It was too too hot for this kind of bullshit. The Black Swan was once again making me run Currahee, because I was the last person to touch the stone. It was only because I'd tripped and he wouldn't let anyone help me up, that I was the last one up.

"Yeah?" he answered, after he'd caught some air. He was sweating heavily too, gasping for air, just like I was.

"You don't have to do this you know."

"I know." he gasped, trying his best not to slow down, or stop. I turned my head to watch him, knowing him well enough to know he was already looking at me.

"Then... why?" It was difficult for us to talk to each other, because of the heat and the steep incline we had to run up, but I figured that we could carry on if I took his mind off of the heat and the exhaustion that had already begun to set in.

"Because it's you and me, always. That's the way it is."

Despite the pretty shitty situation, I smiled. I was so glad Malarkey was there, he's always had my back.

Mercifully, when we reached their goal, the Black Swan allowed us to walk back down Currahee mountain; even he was struggling to carry on running in the abnormal heat that day.

The two of us stopped for a while, taking grateful shelter under the shadow of the huge trees that grew on the side of the mountain. There was no point in running or walking back down right away; Sobel had told me both that the exercise was over, when I got to the top, an' Malark was only running with me so I didn't have to do it alone.

"Ah! The shade is so much nicer and cooler!" I happily sighed, sinking down onto the grassy floor. Malark joined me, dropping to the ground beside me, limbs spread out like a starfish. I turned over on my side and watched him for a little while, watching his chest rise and fall as his strained breathing returned to normal. His cropped, bright red hair was plastered to his head with sweat, and his face was red from the sun and from running three miles up. But that didn't bother me; Malark was Malark and I didn't care what he looked like so long as we weren't apart.

"Come on, let's get going!" I grinned at his grumpy expression, as I patted his arm after a little while. He rolled over on to his knees, and I helped to pull him to his feet.

"I'd much rather stay here."

"Well you stay here then, but I want a drink and a shower!" I mock scolded with a matter of fact tone.

"Fine!" he sighed, with an unhappy expression on his fine features. I turned to him, cocking my head and raising a delicate brow.

"I thought you were going to stay here?" I smirked at my tall friend.

"Well I was, but if you're not here then that wouldn't be any fun." he explained, casually, as he rose from the ground to join me.

"I see." I teased, "Is it because you can't possibly bear the thought of being away from me?"

Malark grinned, "You've been reading too many romance novels."

"I think you're just in denial about your feelings for me." I laughed winking up at him, as the pair of us walked in step, down the mountain trail.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." he told me, shaking his head with a smirk.

Our duo walked for a while in companionable silence, each of us simply enjoying the presence of the other. As we got closer to camp, I could see the shower block and could just make out that it was Easy, going for their pre-lunch showers. I would be going back to the cabin that I shared with Elle and Taylor, while we waited for the lads to finish in the showers, and I was quite glad of that, since I was starting to feel sick and a little bit dizzy. Something just didn't feel right.

"So, do you want to get a shower with me again?" Malarkey joked, nudging me with his elbow.

"That was an accident! I didn't know you were in there." I grumbled the last part, embarrassed, rubbing my arm where he had nudged it, as I looked away from him.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." he smiled softly. I gazed up at him, as he looked away.

I loved seeing him with a smile on his face. It made my stomach flutter and heart thud. I knew why I felt like that, but I hadn't even realised that I'd started to feel something more about him. Ever since the pair of us had (literally) run into each other almost a year ago, we'd spent almost all our time together, totally inseparable.

I sighed, sadly. I knew full well it was one sided, whatever I felt for him. I was his best friend and I knew that. He'd never see me how I saw him. Yes, he flirted, and I flirted back, but there was nothing really to it on his part. It was just a joke to him and I was resigned to my fate in the dreaded friend-zone.

But my feelings soon took a backseat. I was feeling sicker and sicker; everything was spinning, like I was sat on a spinning top and to top that off, there was a dull ache at the base of my skull that was getting stronger and stronger. I could feel the sweat just pour off me and even though I was just walking now and resting in the shade, I didn't feel any cooler.

"Hey, are you okay?" I knew he was talking to me, but the words were just rolling around in my head, like clothes in a tumble drier. Even so, I didn't think I'd be able to reply to him anyway; my mouth and throat was so, so dry.

Just ahead of us, Taylor and Ellie were waving to us, stopping to wait for us I guessed, but they came running over, just as I started thinking _'God I'm so tired.'_ That was the last thing I remember thinking.


	4. Waiting On Pins

**Waiting On Pins.**

* * *

I waited for hours on pins, sat outside of the infirmary burning my way through my cigarettes. I was desperate for news of Thea. I'd not seen her since I took her into the infirmary after she'd collapsed in my arms. I felt sick just thinking about it. Her limp body in my arms, her arm just hanging there. I didn't want to see that.

"Hey." Taylor called to me from behind, coming to sit next to me. I returned her greeting, handing her a cigarette. We sat there quietly for a while until she broke the silence.

"She's just waking up." She paused to exhale a huge smoke cloud, "You can go see her if you want."

I jumped to my feet in excitement and relief. Maybe I was just a little too excited and Taylor let out a little chuckle. I was just about to walk through the door to go to see her, but Taylor's voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Hey, Malarkey?" She spoke with a low voice. I walked back to her but she didn't turn around. "Thanks. You know, for looking out for her all the time."

Taylor exhaled the smoke through her nose and looked to the sky.

"She never had many friends, I think me and Ellie were the only two people who cared about her, 'part from her family." She paused, lost in nostalgic thoughts. I was puzzled when she smirked to herself and stood up. "I guess I just want to say thanks for being her friend… but I'm warning you, if you do anything to hurt her…"

She didn't need to finish her sentence; I knew exactly what she meant.

"I'll do my best."

"Good."

With that, she walked away and I walked into the infirmary. I found Elle sat next to Thea's bed, quietly chatting to each other. Poor Thea was hooked up to a drip, there was a fan blowing on her and she had a wet cloth on her head. When Elle saw me, she smiled and got up.

"Hey Malark." She greeted me with a calm smile. Hearing Elle say my name, Thea tried to sit up. Elle helped her, and Thea clutched the thin linen sheet to her chest; her clothes had been cut off when they were trying to cool her down.

"I'll get you some clothes from your bag." Elle told her after making sure that she was comfortable. She made her way to the door and Thea called to her asking for some ice chips. "Sure, I'll be back soon."

"You can come in you know." Thea smiled weakly at me. I felt my face go red again and I rubbed the back of my neck, making my way into the little room.

"How are you feeling?" I asked when I'd gotten settled in the chair Elle had been sitting in.

"Thirsty. Tired."

Suddenly, she took one of my hands, noticing that I was wringing them.

"I'm sorry for making you worry." She told me in a quiet voice. I was surprised at her apology.

"You don't need to apologise."

There were knots in my stomach. It felt like I had a pit of snakes in there. For some reason, I took her hand and entwined her fingers in mine, rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb. It was like it was automatic, that it's what I should be doing.

It took me a minute to realise what I was doing, but when I did I jumped back, letting go of her hand in the process.

"Sorry." I mumbled. Something flashed across her face and she turned her gaze away, almost as if she was disappointed.

"It's fine…Oh, Captain."


	5. Glad You're Back

**I'm Glad You're Back**

 _So, I decided that I'd cut the whole chapter 3 into little bits. I'm trying to do all of this re-writing while my cat is actively trying to put a hole in the fish tank at 2am._

 _Let me know what you think!_

* * *

I think I was more surprised when Sobel came into my room in the infirmary to see me (to _**apologise**_ no less), than finding out from Taylor (teasing me no less) that Malarkey had been waiting outside the entire time I had been there.

Either way, we were all shocked when we found out that we'd not have to run Currahee on days of extreme heat.

Today was one of those days. It was already hotter than hell and it was only breakfast time. Today was also the day that I was allowed to go back on duty. When I took those first steps outside I was so happy! I couldn't wait to see everyone again. It might've only been 2 days of bed rest, but I'd missed them all so much.

Just feet away from the front of the infirmary, Ellie and Taylor were waiting for me to go to breakfast.

"C'mon slowpoke or you'll miss breakfast!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I grinned, practically skipping along to the mess hall.

"Winters and Nixon are on mess duty today, I think they'll be really pleased to see you." Ellie smiled, putting her arm over my shoulders.

I really didn't expect the raucous greeting I got when I walked through the mess hall doors, but I was touched to know that the whole company cared so much about me. As I stood there, blushing under all the attention, Winters and Nix came over to me, Winters with his usual, kind smile and Nix with a pleased grin. Winters shook my hand as he welcomed me back.

"Thanks, it's nice to be back." I smiled like all my happiness was beaming out of my chest. Nix came around to stand behind me, putting a hand on each of my shoulders.

"Well, I bet you want some real food, right?"

"I don't know, can you class army food as real food?"

At that point my stomach rumbled. Whatever sentiments I had about army food, I wasn't going to pass it up; I was starving.

"I think you'll be surprised."

"You made me French toast?!" I gasped excitedly.

" _Cinnamon_ French toast. And bacon." Joe Domingus added matter-of-factly. "Don't get used to it, it was just to welcome you back."

"I need to get heat stroke more often." I mumbled, blinking at my breakfast as I carried it to my table.

"Hey, that looks good!" George leaned over to look at my plate.

"Eyes front Private Luz. This is my breakfast, you touch it, I'll cut your hands off." Having successfully defending my breakfast from George, I began to eat, much to my friend's amusement.

"Calm down Thee, you'll end up choking." Lip chided, watching me put a huge piece of French toast in my mouth. No sooner had he said it, it got stuck in my throat. Across from me Joe slid a glass of water over for me to clear the blockage with, whilst Don slapped me on the back.

"What did I just say?" Lip sighed. I coughed a little apology, taking another swig of water. I was just about to take another bite out of my food, when I realised there was someone staring at me. I glanced to the side to see Don's warm brown eyes resting on my face with a smile on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just glad you're back."


	6. Anything You Can Do

**Anything you can do, I could probably do better than you...Maybe.**

 _Before you read this chapter, the parts where its written in Italics and Underline means that they are talking in the background._

 _thanks!_

* * *

"George, I swear to God!" Thea growled, slamming her fork into the table, just missing Luz's hand.

"Jesus woman!"

"I told you not to touch my food." I smiled happily to myself, watching as Thea and George argued over her breakfast. I felt a nudge on my arm and I turned to face Skip and Penk who were giving me funny looks.

"You sure you don't like her?" Skip asked later on while he, Penk, Toye, Leib, Bill, George and I sat smoking on the field. We were having some sacred down time (miracle, right?) and Easy had decided to play some baseball. Our team was up for the next game, so for now we were just lazing on the grass.

"Who?"

"Don't play dumb." Skip scolded. "I'm talking about Thea."

"Oh, well, yeah I like her. She is my best friend."

Skip stared silently at me for a few minutes with a mixed expression of disapproval and despair.

"Are you always an idiot or is it just when I'm around?"

The guys all started laughing at my expense, but I still didn't understand.

"He meant as in like ya Big Mick." Bill explained, emphasizing the word 'like'. It took a few seconds for me to get what he meant, but when I did, I imagine I went as read as my hair.

"O-oh, right…"

"I don't know what makes you so stupid, but it works."

"Shut up." I huffed.

I'd not really put that much thought into up until now. I knew that I liked her; we got on great, she was funny and smart, athletic and surprisingly strong.

"I don't know how to umpire though!" her voice called out. I looked over to see her comically arguing with Taylor over the baseball game.

"So you can sing, dance, play the piano and do fancy backflips, but you can't umpire a baseball game?"

Thea… hearing her name immediately brought her face into my head, made my heart pound. My ears would go red and I'd feel nervous if we were alone sometimes at night. She was kind, really listening to whatever you had to say, always supportive, not just of me, but all of us in Easy Company, even Winters and Nixon.

Elle began to walk over to our group, shaking her head and laughing as the two began to argue.

"I did Artistic Gymnastics, not 'fancy backflips'. Gymnastics takes more skill than running in a fucking square while someone hits a little white ball."

 _"Okay now lady; let's just get some things straight"_ "Oh great, here we go again." _"First of all, that just sounds like you've mashed a whole load of sports into one!"_

Just as Elle said that, we turned to see that Tab, Shifty and Smokey had gotten between them and stopped the two from throwing punches.

"Are they always like that?" Penk asked her, looking a little terrified.

"Oh don't worry about them," Elle sat between me and Skip, waving him off, "It's just a little spat."

"They're almost throwing punches," George turned to her incredulously, "What planet do you come from?"

"Eh, I've seen worse." She shrugged calmly, "So anyway, what were you talking about?"

"Oh you know," Skip put his arm around Elle's shoulder, "Just discussing Malarkey's undying love for our little Miss D'Lasey."

Elle's head snapped around to me at almost 100 miles an hour. If looks could kill, I'd have been killed more than once.

"Oh? Is that true?"

"W-well, I don't know if it's love, but-"

"But?"

"Alright, I like her okay, Jesus Christ."

I finally decided to throw in the towel. The jig was up, my secret was out.

"Was it really that hard to say it?"

"Well, no," I admitted, "But I'd rather keep it quiet."

"Why, are you embarrassed?"

"What, no, I'm not embarrassed! It's just… I think things would be easier this way… if she doesn't know." I sighed, turning away from them to watch Thea again. Well I would have if she was there.

"There she is….." Whatever George was going to say died in his throat when he saw Thea come back onto the field in a pair of super tight shorts and vest…just as Sobel walked by. Before he even had the chance, she flashed a slip of paper in his face and he walked off instead.

"My dear lady I have never seen a doctor's note pulled so beautifully." Taylor grinned and gave her a pat on the back.

"I thought you two were arguing?" Elle joked, calling to the two.

"We are."

And once again, they were right back to arguing.

 _"She's trying to prove gymnasts are more skilled than baseball players."_

 _"Stop trying to compete, you'll never win Taylor." Elle shouted to the two furies._

 _"Least I'm taller." Taylor simmered._

 _"Least I'm better looking." Thea crossed her arms over her chest._

 _"Least I can see above the lunch counter in the mess hall!"_

"Fuck me, it's like watching Laurel and Hardy."

 _"Least I'm a purebred."_

 _"What does that even mean?"_

_"Your dad is Irish, your mom is Norwegian and you were born British. If you were a dog you'd be a mongrel!"_

 _"That just means I'm more cultured than you!"_

"I didn't know she was part Norwegian."

"Oh yeah, her mom and dad met at an armory museum. She bumped into him in the Celts lecture and he bumped into her in the Viking display."

"The more you know, huh?"

 _"Cultured? At least my people aren't short, drunk gingers and axe-wielding, hairy, drunk barbarians!"_

 _"Don't you talk about my family like that! Troglodyte!"_


	7. Secrets

**Secrets.**

 _Please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you all think to the revamp!  
_

* * *

"I thought you two were going to kill each other earlier." Ellie spoke up out of the blue as she painted her toenails later on that night.

"We tried to, but Tab, Smokey and Shifty got in the way." Taylor pretended to glare at me over her magazine.

"Very cute." She paused. "Are you okay, Thee?"

I was off in my own little world, sitting on the edge of my bed chin on my palm with my fingers over my mouth, staring out of the window at the rain clouds covering up the stars.

"Thee?"

"Hmm?" I looked over at my friends in the beds across from me.

"What's wrong?" Taylor put the magazine down worriedly, "Aren't you feeling well?"

"Oh no, I'm fine, I was just thinking." I rose, standing at the window to try and catch a glimpse of the moon.

"What about?"

"It's nothing important." I sighed for what must have been the millionth time that evening. Taylor and Ellie looked at each other and then back at me.

"You sure? 'Cause whatever it is, it seems like it's bothering you."

"It's nothing, really, I promise." I faked a smile.

"Nice try," Ellie busted me and hobbled over to me trying not to smudge her fresh nail varnish, "C'mon, tell us what's up."

I finally caved in, letting my feelings flow out like a river flows out to sea. Not that I felt any better about it. Just more confused and sad.

"Thea?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you.." there was a pause "Have feelings… for Malarkey?"

I turned round so fast I almost gave myself whiplash. My face was beetroot red and no excuse I wanted to make, made it out of my mouth; all my words just bottle necked in my throat.

"You do, don't you?" Taylor grinned devilishly, like a younger brother would if he found his big sister's diary and read it.

"I…" I was about to lie and deny it, but the looks on their faces said that they'd got me all figured out and a lie wouldn't help me this time.

"Yes, okay I…. I like him… a lot…." I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter just admitting my feelings and thinking about him. Ellie squealed in delight and threw her arms around me.

"Hey, watch what you're doing… anyway… I'd rather you not say anything to him, or anyone else for that matter."

Ellie held her hands over her heart in mock offence, "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Ellie, we both know you and a certain Warren H. Muck have a little _'thing'_ going on."

"Well this isn't about me, is it?"

"But if you tell him, he'll tell Don."

"He does have a big mouth, that's true." Ellie thought. "Fine, I won't say anything, but if you don't tell him at some point, I know you'll never end up telling him."

"Oh geez, enough of the girly shit, we're supposed to be going on a march and if we're not there, Sobel is going to eat us alive."


	8. A Man's Logic

**A Man's Logic.**

 ** _Well yes, some of these details might be wrong, but please remember it is a fanfiction, and not actually real. Well, it is real, but I mean it's not, 'cause it's based entirely on the series. Please R &R! thanks!_**

* * *

A few months had passed since we had transferred to camp Mackall and now we had all been placed into squads and surprise, surprise, _**we**_ (that is, Taylor, Ellie and I) were a squad of our own. Oh yes, fantastic, let us idiots go off on our own.

So, good old Colonel Sink had called us into his office, treated us to some decent coffee (he had a pot of tea brewed specially for me, so obviously we knew he wanted something) and a small package each.

"Well ladies, I've been talking to the Brass upstairs." Colonel Sink weaved his fingers together in front of him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Taylor glance up at the ceiling of the good Colonel's office; the fucking idiot actually thought he meant _**upstairs**_. I rolled my eyes as he carried on talking. "And I think we have just about decided what we're going to do with you."

The older man took a long look at each of us in an almost father like way.

"You ladies are going to be a reconnaissance squad."

Ah. Recon. Just a less shit way of saying 'if you don't come back we know the enemy is there'. Fuck me. Apparently Ellie had a knack for recon (all those bloody call of duty games she played), Taylor was quite strong, so she would be our machine gunner in case (inevitably more like) we came under enemy machine gun fire. As for me, I had the pleasure of going head first, yes ladies and gentlemen _**head first**_ into the enemy's den to scope and take them out. So out of the squad that was first into the shit, it was me that was really the first one in. Fuck me sideways. You know why I would be the spearhead? One, because I was good with hand guns… I didn't have much of a choice; the sniper rifles were almost the same size as me and two, because of my height. Thanks Sir… thank you very muchly.

"Sir, may I ask, why you want us fighting on the front?" Ellie replied, as Sink asked if we had any questions.

"Well, the Russians have them, why not us?"

what the fu **CK KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?!** That's like when you say 'If Uncle Knobhead jumped off the cliff would you?'. Am I on the same planet? No wonder women live longer than them if that's their kind of logic.

Anyway… We got to decide the name of our squad, design the insignia for our patch, blahdy, blahdy, blah.

There was just one thing; just as we got up to leave, Sink stopped us and asked us for the names of our relatives. Somehow they were going to track our closest relatives down. Yeah, I'd like to see them explain that to them.


	9. Are You Totally Incapable?

**Are You Totally Incapable?**

* * *

Thea sat on the windowsill, one leg on it, the other, swinging casually in the room, as she paused in her mission to light a cigarette. Second squad was totally dumbfounded and stared at her for a while, till Webster broke silence.

"So this is where you were?" He asked, amusement lacing his voice.

Said woman looked away from the mock street and replied with a coy smile, throwing a wink at the Harvard Boy. I frowned, feeling a pang of jealousy in my stomach. I hated when she'd flirt or pretend to flirt with the other guys.

"Oh Bill, I thought you'd put up more of a surprise than this." a teasing, familiar Californian voice came from the door way, as Second squad sat together.

"You guys were behind this the whole fucking time, huh?" he smiled wryly, admitting defeat, as he looked at the jovial face of Danielle.

"Sorry boys." she shrugged with a grin, "All is unfair in espionage and war."

"So what exactly are you three supposed to be doing?" I asked Thea, as she flicked her cig end outside and hopped off the windowsill to sit on my shoulders..

"Capture enemy intelligence and as many enemy's as we can. We get Sobel, we get a drink each."

"From Sink?"

"Speirs."

I frowned and didn't say anything, but looked away before she could see the jealous look on my face. Skip rolled his eyes at me. We both knew I was hopeless.

"You should have seen the look on Sobel's face when burst in through the window!" Taylor howled a few weeks later, "I've never seen him look more surprised or mad!"

We were heading to another camp in the morning and we had all gathered in the barracks to hear how the rest of the exercise went, since for the past couple of weeks, we'd been training pretty hard. We all laughed loudly, as we revelled in Sobel's misfortune.

"I would've killed to have seen his face!" Lieb laughed, shaking his head.

"I can't believe you came flying through the window like that," Bill grinned, "You scared the shit outta me!"

"I rather think I scare the shit out of anyone, if they saw what I looked like in a morning."

"Aw don't be like that my little cactus." Taylor cooed, cuddling her shorter friend.

"You know if you really wanna scare the shit out of people, wear your gas mask."

"That _would_ be scary." Taylor agreed with Elle.

"Scary? That'd be fucking terrifying! Imagine that coming out of the dark at you... Huh, guess it is a good idea." Thea ended up agreeing.

Our group carried on laughing and joking long into the night, till one by one, everyone began to leave to go to sleep. Pretty soon, it was just our cabin and the girls that were still up.

"I'm going to bed guys, I'm knackered." Thea yawned, arms outstretched above her head. Taylor, Elle and the rest of us guys who were still awake, were playing poker on the cabin floor, and as they spoke to her, didn't look away from their cards.

"Alright Thee, just be careful." Elle paused, "In fact, someone walk her back please? I don't want anything happening to her."

Thea rolled her eyes, rising to her feet she said with a sigh, "I'm quite capable of looking after myself Elle."

"I know, but it's for my own peace of mind."

"Okay, okay I'll take someone with me." she relented, looking around for volunteers.

"I'll walk you back." I offered, looking up at her from where I was spectating on the floor. "My hand is pretty lousy anyway."

Thea smiled, thanking me for offering, and the two of us were followed out by wolf whistles and the usual kind of jokes.

"Set of idiots." Thea smiled happily, as she walked side by side with me, back to her cabin she shared with Taylor and Elle.

"Yeah, but you'd not have any of us any other way." I replied, not meaning to look worried. She couldn't help but laugh at the look that rested on my face.

"Obviously!"

We chatted idly as we meandered to her quarter, which was followed by a short silence.

"Thea, whatever the guys say about me to you, they don't mean anything by it." I suddenly blurted out. Thea looked up in surprise.

"Malark I-"

"I think of you like you're one of the guys, so..." I lied, catching a small flash of disappointment, or was it hurt? Either way the conversation between us soon turned awkward. Thea bid me good night as soon as she was in sight of her cabin, and quickly walked away.

"I'm sorry, are you trying to be the worlds biggest fucking dumbass, or is it just by accident that you're totally incapable of talking to a woman you're attracted to?" Skip scolded, pinching the bridge of his nose, holding his sixth cig of the past 20 minutes. This man, was my best friend, but he couldn't help but totally lose faith in my apparent lack of ability to speak to the opposite sex..

I was once again in the shit, after telling my friend about the previous night.

"You don't say shit like that! You just ignore it! Play it off as we're just joking!"

"I'm sorry! I got nervous, alright? She makes me nervous!"

"You know what makes me nervous?" he asked, standing in front of me, while I sat, defeated on his bed, "You. You make me nervous. You know why? Because I _**dread**_ to fucking _**think**_ of what you'll say to the poor woman next!"

Outside the cabin, I could hear the rest of our friends snickering and laughing at the way Skip was telling me off.

"What an idiot!" Luz snorted.

"A grown man, being told off by a guy who sounds like a mom." Perco shook his head, "I thought that was Lip's job."

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" I asked. They all stood rigidly, and slowly looked around. I stood barely a few feet away from them, curious as to why they all looked like they were up to no good.

"Uh.. hey.. Thea, what are you doing here?" Penk stuttered, eyes darting between me and the door.

"I left my lighter here last night, I wanted to know whether anyone had seen it or not..." I replied slowly, scowling at my friend's suspicious behaviour. "What's going on?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about." George panicked

"You mean to tell me that you're all stood here looking like deer in headlights, because what? Did my accent startle you? Forget I'm British?"

"Hey hey, there's no need to accuse us of doing something we shouldn't be!" George argued, trying to defend himself.

"I only asked what was going on, since most of you are out here.."

"We're just taking in the air, you know, before lunch."

I raised an eyebrow, like fuck did I believe them, but before I could say anything else, Malarkey and Skip walked out of the cabin. They stopped in their tracks when they saw me, a horrified look dawning on each of their faces. Skip quickly recovered, throwing a metal object over to me.

"I found your lighter."

"Thanks.." I muttered. "I'll see you all in the by the trucks... Weirdos."

She turned around, once more as she walked off, still curious of our strange behaviour, but decided to shrug it off and put it down to the fact that we were, according to her, all pretty weird, and sometimes it was all of us being weird at the same time.

"Did she..?" Skip began to ask, as our small group watched her disappear from view.

"I don't think so..." Penk slowly replied.

"They're men, what do you expect from them?" Elle smirked, as the three of us went to meet Winters, Nixon and one of the new officers. As we arrived we walked past the Black Swan, saluting him, while he pretended to not notice us. Elle rolled her eyes when he was gone and said how happy she'd be when the day came that she could pretend that he didn't exist for a change.

In the hut, Nix was packing, while Winters had finished hours ago. Today was the day we were shipping out to a camp near New York.

"Ladies!" Nix greeted them happily. Us three friends grinned at the tall, dark haired man.

"You're just in time, this is our new officer, Harry Welsh. Harry, this is Lieutenant Danielle Toya, or Elle as we call her," he began gesturing to our tall, blonde friend. He then gestured again, this time to the burgundy haired tomboy, Taylor, "This is Taylor Roebuck and last but not least, is Thea Donnellon."

Welsh smiled at each of us, before his smile turned into surprise, as his friendly gaze settled on me, the short young woman with the chocolate brown fish tail braid over her shoulder.

"Are your eyes..."

"Yes, they're lavender sir." I finished for him with a friendly smile.

"Sorry, I've just never seen that kind of eye colour before." he apologised, feeling that he had been rude. I waved him off, kindly.

"Don't worry, I get it a lot."


	10. Try Knocking

**Try Knocking**

Sooooooo... yes, I been away from the keyboard for too long, but to be honest, I've been having the worst few weeks ever. Turns out my EX was a cheat and so my anxiety and everything else has been through the roof. Yep. So, it's been _really_ hard, trying to motivate myself, to write a love story about two people who care deeply about each other. Thankfully, my best friend has been helping me through it and my anxiety meds are helping too.

However, my whole writing hand has swollen up, my wrist keeps swelling and its gone right into my fingers, and now it won't bend. Like I said, not exactly having the best time in my life.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this and I'm sorry to keep you all waiting!

* * *

"Ugh where the fuck am I?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes. I didn't have a clue where I was when I woke up that morning, but I had what felt like the worst hangover in the history of hangovers. I knew when I opened my eyes that I wasn't in my room, so God knows where I was. My mouth felt like Ghandi's flip flop and for the life of me I couldn't figure out if I'd been hit by a train 3 or 4 times or if I'd just had some really good drunk sex.

After a few minutes of laying in whomever's bed that I was in, trying to get my scrambled brain in gear and, hearing movement in the bathroom, I lifted my aching body up and leaned to the side, attempting to see around the door.

"You're awake?" Smiled Malark, as he popped his head around the bathroom door, shaving cream all over his cheeks and mouth. My lavender eyes widened, my mouth hung open in surprise, and I quickly down at my body and the hotel room floor.

Don walked into the room, wearing only his trousers, braces which are hanging by his legs, socks and his undershirt, rubbing the remainder of the shaving cream from his face and grinned at the anxious look on my face.

"Your clothes are on the chair in the corner, you slept in your shirt, yes we slept in the same bed and no nothing happened between us."

I stopped panicking and sighed with relief, as my ginger friend threw his towel into the bathroom, filling me in on the events of the nights before.

"Well, I do love my cuddles." I shrugged sheepishly, when Don had finished explaining what had happened and how I'd gotten there in the first place. He joined me, in reclining on the be, half sitting half laying, in the space next to me. He lifted his arm, so I could curl up into his side, squeezing me tight as soon as I got comfy.

"Oh well, I don't mind. Good job, huh?" he smirked.

There was a lull in the conversation, for the next twenty minutes, we just lay together, quietly, happily, in silence. I gently and rhythmically tapped my small, thin fingers on his chest, while he lay there, with his eyes shut and a smile on his face.

I got to thinking, as I lay there in the comfortable silence, had I accidentally let it slip how I felt about him while I was smashed out of my face the night before. I had to find out, in a subtle way. Then again, I was about as subtle as a flying brick.

"Hey Don?"

"Yes, Thee?" he mumbled, opening one eye, as I looked up at him, my head still on his chest.

"You know last night?" I began, propping myself up on my elbow as I looked at him, "How drunk was I?"

Don sat up and looked at me thoughtfully for a little while.

"Well, you did keep falling over... and laughing at apparently nothing."

I groaned with embarrassment, wincing as I attempted to hide my blushing face, "I did?" He nodded, as I looked up at him once more, through my fingers, while he grinned.

"I didn't do anything else did I? Didn't say anything stupid?"

"Something stupid?" he repeated, cocking his head to the side with a frown of confusion. It took him a couple of minutes, before he realised what I had meant.

"Oh, you mean did you accidentally confess your forever undying love for me that you've secretly been harbouring for months?"

I went bright red and my eyes widened in teenage crush horror, before Don burst out laughing.

"No Thee, you didn't say anything like that!"

Puffing my cheeks out and pouting my lips, I grabbed a pillow from the bed and hit him over the head with it. He laughed, holding his hands above his head, to protect himself from the soft blows.

"You dickhead!"

Don grabbed the pillow from behind his head and hit me square in the face and started to laugh as the strong yet gentle force knocked me on to my back. I pulled myself up and attempted to stand up to get the upper hand, but the red head sat up, with a laugh and grin, wrapped his arms around my waist, hoisting me up off of the bed.

"Donald G Malarkey, you put me down right this instance!" I laughed too, as I made a half arsed attempt at struggling out of his grasp.

"Yes ma'am!" he said, quickly setting me down in front of the window, mock saluting me. I rolled my eyes, with a gentle smile and turned away, looking outside of the aforementioned window.

The window was large and rectangular, because there was a fire escape attached to it. We were on the top floor of the hotel, so there was nothing to block the view of the city, save for the other, taller buildings. On the inside, was a plain net curtain, slightly yellowed because of the cigarette smoke through the years and a pair of beige curtains on the curtain rail.

I could see a lot of the city from Don's window. Mine just looked onto another builiding, but from his, I could see the city below us getting busier and busier.

"So what do you want to do today?" Malarkey asked, as he came to stand closer to me, by the window. I carried on gazing down at the increasingly bustling city, thinking of something that the two of us could do.

It took me a couple of minutes, but then I realised what he had said.

"Wait, just the two of us?" I asked him, turning the top half of my body to look at the tall red head at my shoulder.

"Yes just the two of us, is there a problem with that, my lady?"

"There's no problem with that at all." I replied, pausing to grumpily pout at him, "And don't call me my lady, you know I hate that."

My companion just laughed and took a step closer to me and the window, while I turned back to watching over the city. I stared out of the window, at the skyline, feeling Don's arm touching my shoulder, as he got closer to me, before I fixed my eyes on the fire escape that stood outside of the window, deciding that it would be a good place to watch the stars in the sky later that night.

"Well I suppose we could go and have a look around, get something to eat if we can find somewhere decent." I shrugged, tearing my glassy stare from the outside of the building and instead fixing it upon the taller, handsome red head standing by me. He was just looking down at me, when the two of us heard the doorknob turn. I was still wearing my oversized shirt, so everything was covered, but I was still a bit embarrassed when Skip walked into the room.

"Hey Malark we were gonna get..." he paused, blinking in surprise, as he saw that I was standing in the room too, and then started speaking slowly, "Some... breakfast...Uh..."

I blushed, self-conciously pulling my shirt down as far as I could to make sure everything was covered up. Glancing up, Don was also blushing, but looked a little impatient.

"You hear about knocking before coming into someone's room?"

"Yeah... next time I will... never know what I might walk into!" our friend smirked, evil glinting in his eyes.

The two of us rolled our eyes, blushing, but annoyed.

"It's not like that Skip." Don grumbled. "Now did you want something or not?"

"Yeah, me and the guys wanted to know if you wanted to grab some breakfast?"

Don shook his head, "Sorry, but we've already got plans for today."

"Oh... right... Well, enjoy your date!" he snickered, shutting the door behind him as he left.

"Well... I can't wait to hear the rumours that's going to come flying out after this!" he sighed, rubbing his face. I just laughed and shook my head, making my way over to the chair with my clothes on it.

"Right, I'm going to get ready and then we can head out!" I smiled happily at him, as I pulled on my stockings. He sat on the window ledge, watching me struggle with the button on the suspenders. I heard a soft chuckle and before I knew it, he was kneeling next to me, buttoning my suspenders for me. I watched him, quietly, my stomach and heart fluttering as his touch lingered on my skin.

Don always had the most gentlest touch I've ever felt in my life. He must have felt my soft gaze on him, because he lifted his head up and returned my gaze with one equally as caring. For a few short moments I was lost in him, and all I wanted to do was put my lips on his and taste his mouth. All of a sudden, he stood up, clearing his throat and we both awkwardly tore our gazes away from each other.

* * *

Once I had showered and freshened up, changing my clothes, I met Don in front of the hotel, on the steps. There was a huge grin that spread on his face when he saw me, in my navy blue and white polka dot swing dress with my matching blue shoes, with white gloves with little white lace cuffs. Don asked me to do a twirl and his grin grew even wider when I complied.

"Beautiful." he beamed happily, sticking out his elbow so that I could take his arm.

* * *

The two of us took a taxi to central park, and we wandered through, watching the ducks on the water, listening to a band playing, before we moved on to a small cafe, near to the entrance of the park. We watched, through the window, as the couples and service men strolled past, the two of us sipping coffee and eating doughnuts.

"Why are they in such a rush?" I pondered, my chin in my palm as I gazed out onto the street through the big glass wiindow.

"Who knows." the red head across from me shrugged, sipping his own coffee.

I turned my lavender eyes to the man sitting across from me, chin still in my hand.

"Are you alright Don?"

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just pissed off."

"Is it because of your uniform?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"I hate looking like all of the others, after all the training we've gone through."

He and I sat quietly in the cafe, until Don sighed and rubbed his clean shaven face.

"I'm complaining about not being able to be wearing my proper uniform, but you can't even wear yours at all." He sighed guiltily. I smiled and patted his hand that was on the table.

"Don't worry about it." I leaned in closer, to whisper to him, "Besides, I get an excuse to wear stuff like this."

His guilty look changed in an instance, to yet another beaming smile.

* * *

After we left the cafe, we walked along down the street, stopping on our way to Broadway, in a camera shop. I desperately wanted to buy a camera, since I'd lost almost all of my physical memories from my life before, so I wanted to have some new ones.

Malarkey insisted that he carry the package in which my camera and film resided in, as we carried on to Broadway.

There were so many shows on that evening in the cinema and theatres, we almost couldn't choose, until we found a cinema that was reshowing Dumbo, which Malark bought tickets for and while we waited for the movie to start, the pair of us decided that we'd go find a place to dance afterwards.

As the opening credits came on, I couldn't help but think about how I used to watch Disney movies with my mum, every Saturday, wrapped up in her 15 tog, kingsize quilt, with chocolates and other snacks.

I had a huge grin on my face, as all of the baby animals floated down to their parents and it wavered a little, when Dumbo's mother didn't get one, but it soon came back when Dumbo finally arrived. I curled up in my seat, fingers to my lips in near giddy happiness.

I was perfectly fine through the movie, until the scene came, where they took his mother away. It broke my heart on a normal occasion, but now that I had no mother of my own... I cried my heart out. I missed my mum. I'd been so busy with training and adjusting, that I'd had no chance to think about home. It felt like there was a part of my soul missing from me and I finally understood what it was. I never smiled for the rest of the film. It just tore me apart.

As soon as the credits began, I dashed off to the toilets, to sort my face out. My eyes were puffy, my cheeks were blotchy, mascara was under my eyes and down my face. I looked a right state.

The look on my face when I came out of the toilet to Don who was waiting in the lobby for me, said all it needed to, and the two of us got a taxi back to the hotel, neither of us saying a word.


	11. Stargazing and Fire Escapes

**Stargazing and Fire Escapes**

 _Well, it's been a very long while since I've uploaded a chapter, I've had a lot of things going on, currently, I'm planning my wedding. Yep, I recently got engaged to an amazing person and I'm planning our wedding :)_

 _Sorry I've been away so long, but enjoy this little chapter!_

* * *

I don't know what happened to make Thea so upset, but I had never seen her so upset.

We took a cab back to the hotel, in total silence; I could tell that she didn't want to talk about whatever it was that had upset her so much.

As I paid the cabbie, Thee dashed off into the hotel.

"You do something to your lady, buddy?" the cabbie joked. I smirked, shaking my head, watching the direction in which Thee had run off in.

"I think she misses her mom." I explained, "It's the last time I take her to a re-run of Dumbo."

The cabbie snorted, "Can't she just go see her?"

"She's dead." I told him slowly. It wasn't that much of a lie. The cabbie became solomn.

"Hey buddy, I'm sorry about that. My boy's out in Europe, my old lady is so worried, she might drop dead from all the stress." He paused, turning in his seat to look at me, "You look after that little lady, and yourself."

"Yes sir." I nodded with a smile. The guy, when I tried to pay the fare, refused to take his pay, but I was never one to get something for nothing, so before I followed Thea back into the hotel, I put the fare under the windscreen wiper.

* * *

I had Thee's camera in my hand and I thought she'd totally forgotten about it, so I went to her room to give it to her.

The hallway we were roomed on was quiet, and I could hear the soft sniffling inside her room from behind the door. I stayed there, listening, just for a while, before I knocked on her door, calling out her name.

"Thee? You left your camera in the cab." I called out to her softly. After a couple of minutes, I heard the door unlock, and it opened just slightly. My pale lavender eyed friend peeked out through the gap between the door and it's frame.

"Thanks Malark." she sniffed, wiping her puffy eyes, as she took the package from my hands.

"Are you alright?" I asked softly, tentatively.

She nodded, "I'll be okay. I just miss my family."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's okay... I'll come see you later, if that's alright?"

Smiling, I nodded down at her, "Of course you can. You know I always like to have you around."

I could see the faint curves of a smile on her lips, as she said thanks before the door closed.

Just as I was making my way down the hall, to my room, a voice called out to me from behind. Twisting myself, I saw Elle, standing outside the door to her room, looking a little concerned.

"Everything alright Malarkey?" she asked in a motherly fashion, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Everything's fine, why?"

"Did something happen to Thea while the two of you were out?" she asked more sternly this time. I explained to her what had happened while we were out that day. Elle sighed, almost sadly and looked towards my little woman's door, before looking back at me and then down at her feet.

"It's hard, for her, for all of us being here." she sighed once more, stepping towards me, "We have nothing. Just you guys. Just this. We've been so focussed on training and trying to fit in, but when we see families or something triggers a memory of our old lives, it hurts. It cuts into us and we can't do anything about it."

I stood in total silence, my friend and I staring at each other from across the hall.

"Just give her time." she told me, turning away to go back into her room, "She'll open up eventually."

* * *

Hours later, I was laid on my back, on the bed, arms crossed under my head, staring up at the ceiling. There were two smoked cartons of cigarettes on my bedside table, as I nervously waited for hours, for my lady to knock on the door.

Not long after I had started my third packet of smokes, there was a knock on my door, that I had been waiting for nearly all night.

Excitedly, and almost in a panic, I jumped up off of the bed, rushing over to the door, flinging it open, to find a surprised looking Thea on the other side.

She cocked her head to the side, looking surprised and puzzled, as she held a bottle of vodka in one hand and a box of doughnuts in the other.

"Don?" her soft, English accent questioned me sweetly. I blinked at her a few times, before I moved out of the door way to let her into my room.

"Are you feeling better?" I asked, shutting the door after she came in.

"I suppose so." Thee shrugged, turning around to look at me. "You got any glasses, or do you want to just drink it out of the bottle?"

"Bottle?"

My little friend grinned devilishly, and with a nod, said, "Good idea."

"Do you wanna go drink it on the fire escape?"

"That's one of the best suggestions that you've ever had Don."

* * *

"Are you serious!? You just dumped her, moved away and joined Easy?!" Thea laughed in amused surprise.

"Yeah, I did." I laughed too, but at her reaction and because of half of the bottle of vodka that we'd shared.

"That's so fucking mean!" my Thee gasped, holding her hands to her mouth.

"Hey, hey," I began, pointing at her, "She told me, that if I joined up she'd finish me, so I thought, what the hell I'm going anyway. So I dumped her and joined up."

"Boom." Thea grinned, with a deadpan tone, lifting the bottle to her lips.

"Boom." I replied, a smile on my lips, as I toasted Thee with a doughnut. My friend laughed, throwing back her head, her long chocolate hair, cascading down her shoulders and back.

"You're so stubborn." she chuckled, picking up a powdered doughnut.

"What can I say, we Irish have always been stubborn." I joked, taking the bottle that Thea had previously been holding.

She started to shake her head, "Fucking Irish."

"Thee, _you're_ Irish." I pointed out with an amused from on my face.

"Fuck!" she grumbled, looking annoyed.

"Thea my lady, you're not going to get away with pretending you're not Irish."

"I thought I told you not to call me that."

"Since when have I listened to what you say?"

The two of us calmed down after a while, and we lay there, on our backs, looking up at the sky, stargazing in the cool night sky. Thea held one of my hands, the two of us laying in a T shape, her head resting on my ribs, as I lay my arm over her waist.

I switched my gaze, from the starry night sky, to the young, beautiful woman laying with me. She'd gotten changed, from our trip out, into her favourite clothes. Instead of her polka dot dress, she wore a long sleeved, marl grey jumper that looked a few sizes too big, so it showed some of her shoulder and bra strap (I didn't mind, so long as I was the only one who saw it, not that I was going to say that to her). Her bottom half was clad in skin tight black things, called leggings, well, I think that's what the girls called them. On her feet she wore a pair of comfy, marl brown socks, which she loved, always telling me that they made her feet look 'cute'.

I smiled, nudging her so that I could sit up. She gave me a grumpy pout, the same look she gives me if I wake her up in the morning, but it soon faded into a surprised look, as I lifted her into the gap between my legs, her right shoulder leaning into my chest.

The lavender eyed beauty wrapped her arms around my body automatically, head instinctively resting on my shoulder. I smiled once again, resting my lips on the top of her head. I remembered how sad she had been earlier and I wanted to make her smile.

"You know... You'll always be welcome at my home."

Thea looked up at me, "Don?"

"I mean it. You'll always be welcome at my home, with my family. I will always be there for you. I promise."

She studied my face for a while with her pale purple eyes, before she smiled.

"You want to be careful how you say things, you sounded like you were proposing to me!"

I smirked, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." I paused, "I just wanted to make you smile. I hate seeing you sad."

"Aww aren't you such a cutie pie." she teased, pinching my cheek. I rolled my eyes, pretending to look annoyed.

"Aren't you such a dick." I jokingly grumbled.

"I am, but fuck it."


	12. Filler Chapter1 - Socks

**Socks**

 _Sorry it's taken so long for me to upload something new, but I hope you enjoy this small chapter. I think I'm only going to be writing three short chapters (including this one) while the company is on the way to good old Great Britain while I'm trying to think of what to write for the new chapters.  
_

 _Enjoy and please review!_

* * *

"Holy shit you fucking stink."

"Fuck off Frank."

"Yeah, you'd smell too if you couldn't shower!" I shouted over to Perconte from my bunk, throwing a pair of balled up socks at his head.

"We take a shower, why can't you?"

"Because they won't separate the shower so we can get in."

"Well that sucks."

"Yeah it does so we'll stink for a little while."

"Boy aren't we lucky."

"Hey, can I have my socks back?"

"Nah."

* * *

I didn't realise how small Thea actually was, until I saw her chasing Frank Perconte around a ship packed so tightly, there wasn't any room for even the smallest sardines.

"What the hell are you two doing now?" I chuckled, as Thea the gymnast vaulted over my ass.

"Perconte took my socks!"

"I did not – get off me fatass – she threw her socks at me, so I just ain't givin' 'em back." Perc called from the grimy floor, as My Lady sat on his back with a real smug grin on her face.

"Did you hear that?! He called me fatarse!"

"You want me to kick his ass?"

"If you wouldn't mind Don."

"Fuck you Malarkey."

* * *

"Hey, thanks for helping me get my socks back."

"It's alright, I can't stand to see a shortass separated from her favourite socks."

I pulled a face at Don while the wind blew my hair into my face, as the two of us stood on the deck later that night.

I had my head resting on my forearms on the ship's railings, while Don had his back to the sea. Years could have gone by, while I gazed at his face and I'd never had been the wiser. It drew me in like a moth to the flame; I was the moth and he was my flame. He was so beautiful, I couldn't take my eyes off his face, I just loved to look at him, studying all of the minute details.

"Something the matter?"

"No." I replied with a contented sigh and smile, "You're just nice to look at."

"Hey, you carry on talking like that and I'll be getting to think that you like me." Don winked, nudging my arm. I rolled my eyes and looked away, straightening my body as I did so.

"Don't go getting ideas now dear Donald."

"Like that's a bad thing."

"Oh don't be a big baby."

We stood quietly for a while. It felt like hours, but when I looked at my watch, it had only been about half an hour. It was nice, just to spend time with him like this.

"So, you going to take me out around London when we get some free time?"

"Bloody hell, we've not even got to England and you're thinking about time off!" I laughed, looking at Don again.

"Well I gotta take my mind offa this rustbucket somehow."

"Is your stunning best friend not good enough?" I asked, pretending to be shocked and appalled.

"Well... I guess so."

"You guess so? You break my heart."

"Drama queen." he smirked, watching me pretend to clutch my chest in pain.

"Ginge."


	13. Filler Chapter2 - Sleeping Beauty

**Sleeping Beauty**

Filler chapter #2

* * *

"Wake up."

"I don't wanna."

"C'mon Sleeping Beauty, time to get up."

"No."

"You'll miss out on the food."

"Good."

Squeezing past all the people crammed into the walkways, I could see that Thee was fast asleep on her stomach, on my bunk, mouth slightly open and drooling a little. Toye was placing his jacket on her, to keep her warm.

Taylor was sat at the end of my bunk, reading the same magazine that I had been reading, occasionally glancing over at My Lady with an almost sad look on her face.

Danielle, was lying on the bunk across from mine, with a motherly smile on her face, also glancing from the book that she was reading, to Thee and Taylor.

They were like a little family, Elle was the mom, and Taylor and Thea were the sisters.

"Fucking asshole, no one picks on her cause she's too fucking cute."

"Just because you're ugly Taylor."

"Jeez you're a bitch Dan."

"As if I didn't know already."

I chuckled and sat next to Taylor.

"How many times have you read that thing."

"Too many."

"Isn't there anything else you can read?"

"This isn't a fucking cruise ship, where am I going to get another book?"

"Webster should have some."

"Huh." she paused. "I forgot about him."

There was a soft, little groan after Taylor had gotten up to find Web, that came from Thea. Looking up, she had a little smile on her face and pushed her face further into my bag. Her hair was all over the place, to say that it was tied back.

"Mmmalark."

"Yeah?"

"Just checking..." and she drifted back off to sleep, rolling over and covering her eyes with her arm.

I smiled. My heart felt warm and butterflies filled my stomach. I didn't care how messy she looked, she was always beautiful to me.


	14. Filler Chapter3 - Look at the Stars

**Stars and Memories.**

* * *

 _My goodness it's been a while gang!_

 _I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in so long, (I know I always say this) but I've been having a bit of a wild ride. So, there you go._

 _Now I know this is just a filler chapter, but it's better than nothing while I finish up the next proper chapter, isn't it?_

 _Thank you everyone for waiting this long! I hope you enjoy it!_

* * *

"I know this might sound bad..." Thea began, as the three women sat on the deck late at night.

They were talking amongst themselves, something which had become a rarity. Thea sat between the two elder women, their legs dangling below them, their arms resting on the rail.

"Go on."

"Well, I'm sort of forgetting what it was like, before all of this." The youngest sighed, gazing up into the navy sky, the scattered stars reflected in her violet eyes.

Taylor looked down at her feet dangling over the edge of the ship. Elle, stared at Thea's face, before she also looked up into the sky at the silver stars twinkling.

She knew how the two of her 'little sisters' felt. She felt the same. Lost, out of place, confused, sometimes it just felt like a dream. Maybe not a dream, more like a nightmare you can't wake up from, no matter how hard you tried.

"Hey, tweedle dee and tweedle dum, listen."

The younger two turned their heads towards Elle.

"You see those stars?"

"Hold on a minute, you sound super gay." Taylor piped up.

"Just shut the fuck up and listen to me, alright? You can take the mick later."

Elle waited until the two of them had settled down, before she began.

"You see those stars?" the two nodded in sync. "Thea, remember when we first met? We came to stay with you, and we camped out in the front garden. We stayed up all night star gazing, d'you remember?"

Said girl thought for a minute, before Elle saw the start of a small smile on her lips.

"Yeah," she began, slowly, "We made hot chocolate on the camping stove and topped it with marshmallows and squirty cream!"

"Hell yeah we did, and Tay, remember when Thea first came over to America and we stayed at your ranch?"

"Sure I do, I taught you two how to ride a horse... T-spoon ended up having the biggest horse!" Taylor snorted at the end.

"And what did we do that night?"

Now Taylor thought for a moment.

"We ended up making muffins and waffles at 1 in the morning... then we ate them on the porch, with some coffee and smoked... and we waited for the sun to come up..."

"Yeah," Elle smiled, in a motherly way. "Yeah we did. If you ever think you're forgetting, look at those stars, and you'll remember."


	15. Mrs Taylor - The Cast Iron Woman

**Mrs Taylor - The Cast Iron Woman**

 _Sorry it's been so long since I last updated this story, there's been a million things going on lately, so my writing has taken to being the back burner. Please enjoy this latest chapter and look forward to reading more._

 _Please R &R. Thank you!_

* * *

As I stood there, the small brown wooden gate in front of me, clutching the little piece of paper with the address on, I wondered why I was still looking at the directions and address. The address and directions had led me to a lonely cottage at the top of a hill, on the outskirts of the village. Mind you, however lonely it was, it was bloody gorgeous.

The cottage itself was set lower down in the ground; the garden looked like it was swallowing the little house. On the right side of the cottage, there was a bay window on the front right room that was close enough to climb through from the garden, if it was open.

The roof was thatched and the face of the house was painted white with Tudor style framing. The garden was surrounded by bright flower boarders and above the gate was a white arch with pink, white and orange roses growing all over it and hung down above the gate. Towards the back right of the house and garden, I could see that there was a smallish greenhouse and the grass on the lawn was the brightest green that I'd ever seen. Surrounding the garden and house was an old stone wall. Directly across from the cottage, there was another wall, similar to the one around the garden. Behind that, there was a steep verge that led up to a meadow.

I was in awe with the beauty of the home and little garden; I just wanted to stay and look at it.

Before I made my way to the front door, I inhaled deeply to give me courage, adjusted my uniform to make sure it looked perfect (first impressions _are_ the most important after all) and had a momentary thought back to what had gotten me there in the first place.

* * *

 _ **Several hours earlier.**_

"So basically there's not enough room in the camp for us to stay there?" Taylor frowned, the cigarette that was hanging in her mouth wiggling when she spoke.

"In a word, yeah." Lew gave a half smile to Taylor, who just rolled her eyes.

"Well, whose stupid idea was it not to build enough huts?"

"Anyway, we've already had letters sent out to the people who've volunteered to house us." Lew carried on, ignoring Taylor's grumblings.

It had been a few weeks since we'd arrived in Great Britain. Initially we'd been sleeping on the floor of some of the huts with the men, but then they'd moved us into the 'Big House' in the village that they used as HQ, after managing to find three shitty old camping beds for us to sleep in (not that we slept in them, Taylor and I slept top-and-toe on the big Winchester sofa that was in the drawing room and Ellie slept crushed up in the arm chair). After we'd had our induction lectures on 'Being British' (which ended up being me giving the lectures, because someone, not mentioning any names **(Luz)** decided to volunteer me), they saw fit to send us out into the village and then move us into some civilian's houses. I say we, since I was British, all I had to do was have a lecture on the currency because I only knew pounds, pence and pennies.

"Well for now, D'Lasey is the only one who is being billeted." Lew stated to us.

"Great, now I've got a whole couch to myself!"

"Hey, keep your sofa, I get an actual _bed_ to sleep in."

"Can you just go now? Asshat." Taylor grumbled once again and I just laughed. Lew handed me a scrap of paper.

"Here, that's the address of your billet. The lady there is called Mrs Taylor, she lives alone. Apparently you can't miss it; the only house at the top of a hill on the outskirts. Have fun."

I remember looking at the scrap of paper intensely when he handed it to me, but now I put it away, swapping it out for my papers and identity card, as well as the letter to the occupant, Mrs Taylor. While I'd been on my way up, I'd acquainted myself with a local lady, Lily Lamb, who did all the washing for us soldiers. Miss Lamb, after I'd asked for directions, had told me that Mrs Taylor was a very stiff woman; she never smiled or laughed and was polite in harsh, get-on-with-it sort of attitude. And she did **not** like soldiers.

* * *

Having walked down the stone shingle pathway and down the three steps to get to the front door, I raised my arm to knock on the door, but before I could, it quickly opened and a stern looking, middle-aged woman stood in the doorway.

She gave me a disapproving once over.

"I take it that you are to be my tenant." She said with enough venom to kill fifteen elephants.

"Oh yes ma'am." I nodded quickly, caught off guard by how sharply she spoke.

"I was of the impression you were to present your papers and Identity card. I won't have an unknown lodging in my home."

' _Bloody hell this woman is terrifying. Maybe she's related to Sobel.'_ I thought to myself, whilst I handed her my documents. After several moments of her scouring my papers, she finally thrust them back into my hands and turned down the tight hallway.

"Don't stand there in the door girl." Mrs Taylor snapped once more, "I may not have an affinity for those of the military profession, but I am not in the habit of letting guests of my hospitality stand outside on the door."

I quickly hurried in, closing the door behind me, "Yes ma'am."

She looked at my feet sternly, giving the hint that I should wipe my feet before coming in any further. As she waited for me to wipe my feet, I glanced around miniscule hallway.

To my left was an umbrella and hat stand, where Mrs Taylor indicated that my coat and garrison cap should go whilst I was indoors. On the right side of the hallway was a lengthy octagonal mirror with a lengthwise ledge on the bottom which had a comb sat on it.

"You may leave your luggage by the door; it will only be cumbersome whilst I take you around the cottage."

The first room that Mrs Taylor guided me to was the kitchen. Down the thin hallway, there was a set of stairs that you'd expect to see in a cottage; very small and narrow. The doorway to the right of the hallway led into an incredibly spacious kitchen.

The floor was made up of large stones, the ceiling had bare beams with copper and iron pans hanging in the centre and the walls were bare stone, much like the floor. To the left, upon entering the kitchen was a large, black Victorian cooking stove complete with a cast iron kettle, set back in a blue and white alcove, with a chimney hole above the stove itself. Directly in front of me was the long, dark wood worktop with a double butler sink with a drainer in the middle. Above and below the worktop were dark, duck egg blue colour cupboards. At the far right end of the room was an open fireplace with a brick arch and two big piles of wood beside it. Directly across from the sink and worktops was a three small door cupboard unit with shelves built onto the top of it which housed a very nice tea pot and tea set. In the very centre of the room was an oak table with six matching chairs, all of which sat directly under the hanging iron and copper pots and pans. The whole kitchen was quite dark, due to the house being set lower down and the wall that kept the garden from collapsing in was quite high so it blocked out the light.

"Mrs Taylor you have a wonderful kitchen!" I gaped in awe. Cottages are my love; I was born and raised in one. Mrs Taylor said nothing, just reply with a quiet 'hmph' before she led me out of the kitchen and into the living room.

The living room was as you'd expect a 1940's sitting room to be. There were just two armchairs with a little coffee table between them, facing an open fireplace with a brass grate in front of it. The back wall was full of books and across from the doorway from the hall was a large lead panelled bay window. In the corner between the bay window and fireplace was a large object covered with a huge white sheet.

After showing me the two rooms downstairs, Mrs Taylor instructed me to bring my bag with me and we made our way up the cramped stairway to the next floor. There were four rooms upstairs; one was the bathroom, with a large free stranding claw foot tub, one was the toilet and hand washing sink, the room first to the left was Mrs Taylor's bedroom and the first room on the right was to be my room.

"Once you have settled in I shall await you in the kitchen to inform you of the way in which I expect the house to be run."

"Yes ma'am." I nodded as she shut the door, leaving me in my new room.

It was spacious, but sparsely decorated and to my surprise (and delight) I found that my room was the one with the bay window on the corner of the cottage. It even had a window seat that I could sit and look out at the garden on. There was a small double bed with bedside cabinets on either side and on the opposite wall was a wardrobe unit with a mirror and vanity space in the centre, with a wash bowl and jug.

As I was putting my very few worldly possessions away (which included the clothes and items from my old life), I stopped to gaze through the window. I began to think about my family, wondering what they were doing, if they were sad or happy.

"Well, I'm here now, nothing I can do about it." I sighed and began putting my things away. My thoughts then travelled to Mrs Taylor, as I hung up my class A's and other bits of my uniform.

"She can't be that bad." I said to myself, brushing my hanging uniform down. "She might just be strict."

I put my foot locker at the foot board of my bed and made my way down to the kitchen, wondering what could possibly go wrong.


End file.
